1.
Japanese mythology
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Japanese mythology embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally-based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami and this article will discuss only the typical elements present in Asian mythology, such as cosmogony, important deities, and the best-known Japanese stories. Japanese myths, as recognized in the mainstream today, are based on the Kojiki, the Nihon Shoki. The Kojiki, or Record of Ancient Matters, is the oldest surviving account of Japans myths, legends, the Shintōshū describes the origins of Japanese deities from a Buddhist perspective, while the Hotsuma Tsutae records a substantially different version of the mythology. One notable feature of Japanese mythology is its explanation of the origin of the Imperial Family, the title of the Emperor of Japan, tennō, means heavenly sovereign. Later, the seven generations of kami, known as Kamiyonanayo, emerged, following the formation of heaven and earth. The first two generations are individual deities called hitorigami, while the five that followed came into being as male/female pairs of kami, in this chronicle, the Kamiyonanayo comprise 12 deities in total. Japans creation narrative can be divided into the birth of the deities, to help them to achieve this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a naginata decorated with jewels, named Ame-no-nuboko. The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi and churned the sea below with the halberd, drops of salty water formed the island, Onogoro. The deities descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island, eventually, they fell in love and wished to mate. So they built a pillar called Amenomihashira around which they built a palace called Yashirodono, Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, and when they met on the other side, Izanami, the female deity, spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didnt think that this was proper, but they mated anyway and they had two children, Hiruko and Awashima, but the children were badly formed and are not considered gods in their original form. The parents, who were dismayed at their misfortune, put the children into a boat and sent them to sea, so Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, and this time, when they met, Izanagi spoke first. Izanami died giving birth to Kagutsuchi, also called Homusubi due to severe burns and she was then buried on Mount Hiba, at the border of the old provinces of Izumo and Hoki, near modern-day Yasugi of Shimane Prefecture. His death also created dozens of deities, the gods who were born from Izanagi and Izanami are symbolic aspects of nature and culture. Izanagi lamented the death of Izanami and undertook a journey to Yomi, Izanagi found little difference between Yomi and the land above, except for the eternal darkness. However, this suffocating darkness was enough to make him ache for light, quickly, he searched for Izanami and found her. At first, Izanagi could not see her for she was hidden in the shadows
2.
Religion in Japan
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Religion in Japan is dominated by Shinto and by Buddhist schools and organisations. 3% are Christians. In 2009, a survey showed that over half the Japanese families had a butsudan or Buddhist altar in their homes. In 2009 data from the Agency of Cultural Affairs stated that there were 89 million Buddhists in Japan, in 2011, after the Tsunami, it was reported that 90% of the Japanese identified as Buddhist or Shinto or a combination of both. Most of the Japanese pray and worship ancestors and gods at Shinto shrines or private altars and this is because these terms have little meaning for the majority of the Japanese, or they define membership in Shinto organisations or sects. The term religion itself in Japanese culture defines only organised religions, people who identify as non-religious in surveys actually mean that they do not belong to any religious organisation, even though they may take part in Shinto rituals and worship. Scholars Isomae Junichi and Jason Ānanda Josephson have challenged the usefulness of the religion in regard to Japanese traditions. They have shown that the Japanese term and concept of religion is an invention of the 19th century, Shinto, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous religion of Japan and the people of Japan. It is defined as a religion, focused on ritual practices to be carried out diligently. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the historical records of the Kojiki. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified Shinto religion, practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian periods. The word Shinto was adopted, originally as Shindo, from the written Chinese Shendao, the oldest recorded usage of the word Shindo is from the second half of the 6th century. Kami are defined in English as spirits, essences or gods, kami and people are not separate, they exist within the same world and share its interrelated complexity. Shinto is the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population, Shinto has 100,000 shrines and 78,890 priests in the country. These new religions also provided cohesion through a unified doctrine and practice shared by the nationwide community, the officially recognized new religions number in the hundreds, and total membership is reportedly in the tens of millions. The largest new religion is Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist sect founded in 1930, scholars in Japan have estimated that between 10% and 20% of the population belongs to the new religions, although more realistic estimates put the number at well below the 10% mark. As of 2007, there are 223,831 priests and leaders of the new religions in Japan, many of these new religions are Shinto-derived and retain the fundamental characters of Shinto, often identifying themselves as forms of Shinto. These include Tenrikyo, Konkokyo, Omotokyo, Shinrikyo, Shinreikyo, Sekai Shindokyo, Zenrinkyo, others are independent new religions, including Aum Shinrikyo, Mahikari movements, the Church of Perfect Liberty, Seicho-no-Ie, the Church of World Messianity, and others. Buddhism first arrived in Japan in the 6th century, it was introduced in the year 538 or 552 from the kingdom of Baekje in Korea, the Baekje king sent the Japanese emperor a picture of the Buddha and some sutras
3.
Sessho-seki
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The Sessho-seki, or Killing Stone, is an object in Japanese mythology. It is said that the stone kills anyone who comes into contact with it, as told in the Otogizoshi, when the nine-tailed fox was killed by the famous warrior Miura-no-suke, its body became the Sessho-seki. Genno performed certain spiritual rituals, and begged the spirit to consider her spiritual salvation, until finally Tamamo no Mae relented, in Matsuo Bashōs famous book, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Bashō tells of visiting the stone in Nasu, located in modern-day Tochigi Prefecture. Today, an area in the mountains of Nasu commemorates the myth. Archived from the original on December 26,2004, enjoying Otogi Zoshi with the Help of Synopsis and Illustrations
4.
Sword
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A sword is a long bladed weapon intended for slashing or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the epoch or the geographical region under consideration. A sword consists of a blade attached to a hilt. The blade can be straight or curved, thrusting swords have a pointed tip on the blade, and tend to be straighter, slashing swords have sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade, and are more likely to be curved. Many swords are designed for thrusting and slashing. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger, the later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The word sword continues the Old English, sweord, the use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or as fencing. In the Early Modern period, western sword design diverged into two forms, the thrusting swords and the sabers. The thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the smallsword were designed to impale their targets quickly and their long and straight yet light and well balanced design made them highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but fairly ineffective when used in a slashing or chopping motion. A well aimed lunge and thrust could end a fight in seconds with just the swords point, the saber and similar blades such as the cutlass were built more heavily and were more typically used in warfare. Built for slashing and chopping at multiple enemies, often from horseback, most sabers also had sharp points and double edged blades, making them capable of piercing soldier after soldier in a cavalry charge. Sabers continued to see use until the early 20th century. The US Navy kept tens of thousands of sturdy cutlasses in their armory well into World War II, non-European weapons called sword include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern scimitar, the Chinese dao and the related Japanese katana. The Chinese jian is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, the first weapons that can be described as swords date to around 3300 BC. They have been found in Arslantepe, Turkey, are made from arsenical bronze, some of them are inlaid with silver. The sword developed from the dagger when the construction of longer blades became possible, from the late 3rd millennium BC in the Middle East, first in arsenic copper, then in tin-bronze. Blades longer than 60 cm were rare and not practical until the late Bronze Age because the strength of bronze is relatively low. These are the type A swords of the Aegean Bronze Age, one of the most important, and longest-lasting, types swords of the European Bronze Age was the Naue II type, also known as Griffzungenschwert
5.
Mirror
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This is different from other light-reflecting objects that do not preserve much of the original wave signal other than color and diffuse reflected light. The most familiar type of mirror is the mirror, which has a flat screen surface. Curved mirrors are used, to produce magnified or diminished images or focus light or simply distort the reflected image. Mirrors are commonly used for personal grooming or admiring oneself, decoration, Mirrors are also used in scientific apparatus such as telescopes and lasers, cameras, and industrial machinery. Most mirrors are designed for light, however, mirrors designed for other wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation are also used. The first mirrors used by people were most likely pools of dark, still water, the requirements for making a good mirror are a surface with a very high degree of flatness, and a surface roughness smaller than the wavelength of the light. The earliest manufactured mirrors were pieces of polished stone such as obsidian, examples of obsidian mirrors found in Anatolia have been dated to around 6000 BC. Mirrors of polished copper were crafted in Mesopotamia from 4000 BC, polished stone mirrors from Central and South America date from around 2000 BC onwards. In China, bronze mirrors were manufactured from around 2000 BC, some of the earliest bronze, Mirrors made of other metal mixtures such as copper and tin speculum metal may have also been produced in China and India. Mirrors of speculum metal or any precious metal were hard to produce and were owned by the wealthy. Stone mirrors often had poor reflectivity compared to metals, yet metals scratch or tarnish easily, depending upon the color, both often yielded reflections with poor color rendering. The poor image quality of ancient mirrors explains 1 Corinthians 13s reference to seeing as in a mirror, glass was a desirable material for mirrors. Because the surface of glass is smooth, it produces reflections with very little blur. In addition, glass is very hard and scratch resistant, however, glass by itself has little reflectivity, so people began coating it with metals to increase the reflectivity. According to Pliny, the people of Sidon developed a technique for creating crude mirrors by coating glass with molten lead. Glass mirrors backed with gold leaf are mentioned by Pliny in his Natural History and these circular mirrors were typically small, from only a fraction of an inch to as much as eight inches in diameter. These small mirrors produced distorted images, yet were prized objects of high value and these ancient glass mirrors were very thin, thus very fragile, because the glass needed to be extremely thin to prevent cracking when coated with a hot, molten metal. Due to the quality, high cost, and small size of these ancient glass mirrors
6.
Atsuta Shrine
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Atsuta Shrine is a Shinto shrine traditionally believed to have been established during the reign of Emperor Keikō located in Atsuta-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in Japan. The shrine is known as Atsuta-Sama or simply as Miya. Since ancient times, it has been revered, ranking with the Great Shrine of Ise. The 200,000 m² shrine complex draws over 9 million visitors annually, the Kojiki explains that Atsuta Shrine was founded to house the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, a legendary sword. According to traditional sources, Yamato Takeru died in the 43rd year of Emperor Keikos reign, the possessions of the dead prince were gathered together along with the sword Kusanagi, and his widow venerated his memory in a shrine at her home. Sometime later, these relics and the sword were moved to the current location of the Atsuta Shrine. Nihonshoki explains that this occurred in the 51st year of Keikos reign. From 1872 through 1946, the Kasuga Shrine was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha, the shrines buildings were maintained by donations from a number of benefactors, including well-known Sengoku period figures like Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the Tokugawas. For example, the Nobunaga-Bei, a 7.4 m high roofed mud wall, was donated to the shrine in 1560 by Nobunaga as a token of gratitude for his victory at the Battle of Okehazama. In 1893, it was remodeled using the Shinmeizukuri architectural style, before a celebration in 1935, the shrines buildings as well as other facilities were completely rearranged and improved in order to better reflect the history and cultural significance of the shrine. During the bombings of World War II, however, many of Atsuta Shrines buildings were destroyed by fire, the shrines main buildings, such as the honden, were reconstructed and completed in 1955. Following the completion of buildings, construction of other buildings continued on the shrine grounds. In 1966 the Treasure Hall was completed in order to house the collection of objects, manuscripts and documents. This Shinto shrine is dedicated to the veneration of Atsuta-no-Ōkami, Atsuta is the traditional repository of Kusanagi no Tsurugi, the ancient sword that is considered one of the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan. Central to the Shinto significance of Atsuta Shrine is the sword which is understood to be a gift from Amaterasu Ōmikami. This unique object has represented the authority and stature of Japans emperors since time immemorial, Kusanagi is imbued with Amaterasus spirit. During the reign of Emperor Sujin, duplicate copies of the Imperial regalia were made in order to safeguard the originals from theft. This fear of theft proved to be justified during the reign of Emperor Tenji when the sword was stolen from Atsuta
7.
Tokyo Imperial Palace
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The Tokyo Imperial Palace is the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is built on the site of the old Edo Castle, the total area including the gardens is 3.41 square kilometres. During the height of the 1980s Japanese property bubble, the grounds were valued by some to be more than the value of all of the real estate in the state of California. After the capitulation of the shogunate and the Meiji Restoration, the inhabitants, leaving the Kyoto Imperial Palace on 26 November 1868, the Emperor arrived at the Edo Castle, made it to his new residence and renamed it to Tōkei Castle. At this time Tōkyō had also been called Tōkei and he left for Kyōto again, and after coming back on 9 May 1869, it was renamed to Imperial Castle. Previous fires had destroyed the Honmaru area containing the old donjon, on the night of 5 May 1873, a fire consumed the Nishinomaru Palace, and the new imperial Palace Castle was constructed on the site in 1888. A non-profit Rebuilding Edo-jo Association was founded in 2004 with the aim of a historically correct reconstruction of at least the main donjon, a reconstruction blueprint had been made based on old documents. The Imperial Household Agency at the time had not indicated whether it would support the project, in the Meiji era, most structures from the Edo Castle disappeared. Some were cleared to make way for other buildings while others were destroyed by earthquakes, for example, the wooden double bridges over the moat were replaced with stone and iron bridges. The buildings of the Imperial Palace constructed in the Meiji era were constructed of wood and their design employed traditional Japanese architecture in their exterior appearance while the interiors were an eclectic mixture of then-fashionable Japanese and European elements. The ceilings of the chambers were coffered with Japanese elements, however, Western chairs, tables. The floors of the rooms had parquets or carpets while the residential spaces used traditional tatami mats. The main audience hall was the part of the palace. It was the largest building in the compound, guests were received there for public events. The floor space was more than 223 tsubo or approximately 737.25 m2, in the interior, the coffered ceiling was traditional Japanese-style, while the floor was parquetry. The roof was styled similarly to the Kyoto Imperial Palace, but was covered with copper plates rather than Japanese cypress shingles, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa period, more concrete buildings were added, such as the headquarters of the Imperial Household Ministry and the Privy Council. These structures exhibited only token Japanese elements, from 1888 to 1948, the compound was called Palace Castle. On the night of 25 May 1945, most structures of the Imperial Palace were destroyed in the Allied firebombing raid on Tokyo
8.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
9.
Ise Grand Shrine
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The Ise Grand Shrine, located in the city of Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as Jingū, Ise Jingū is a complex composed of a large number of Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, Naikū and Gekū. The Inner Shrine, Naikū, is located in the town of Uji-tachi, south of central Ise, and is dedicated to the worship of Amaterasu, the shrine buildings are made of solid cypress wood and use no nails but instead joined wood. The Outer Shrine, Gekū, is located six kilometers from Naikū and dedicated to Toyouke-Ōmikami. Besides Naikū and Gekū, there are an additional 123 Shinto shrines in Ise City, purportedly the home of the Sacred Mirror, the shrine is one of Shintos holiest and most important sites. Access to both sites is limited, with the common public not allowed beyond sight of the thatched roofs of the central structures. However, tourists are free to roam the forest, including its ornamental walkways, during the Edo period, it is estimated that one out of ten Japanese conducted an Okage Mai-Ri pilgrimage to the shrine. Accordingly, pilgrimage to the shrine flourished in both commercial and religious frequency, because the shrine is considered sanctuary, no security checkpoints were conducted, as it was considered sacrilege by the faithful. The two main shrines of Ise are joined by a road that passes through the old entertainment district of Furuichi. The chief priest or priestess of Ise Shrine must come from the Imperial House of Japan and is responsible for watching over the Shrine, the current high priestess of the shrine is Atsuko Ikeda, assisted by former imperial princess Sayako Kuroda. Her search eventually brought her to Ise, in modern Mie Prefecture, in this land I wish to dwell. Before Yamatohime-no-mikotos journey, Amaterasu had been worshiped at the residence in Yamato. Besides the traditional establishment date of 4 BCE, other dates of the 3rd, the first shrine building at Naikū was erected by Emperor Tenmu, with the first ceremonial rebuilding being carried out by his wife, Empress Jitō, in 692. The shrine was foremost among a group of shrines which became objects of imperial patronage in the early Heian period, in 965, Emperor Murakami ordered imperial messengers to be sent to report important events to the guardian kami of Japan. These heihaku were presented to 16 shrines including the Ise Shrine. From the late 7th century until the 14th century, the role of priestess of Ise Shrine was carried out by a female member of the Imperial House of Japan known as a saiō. According to the Manyōshū, the first saiō to serve at the shrine was Princess Ōku, daughter of Emperor Tenmu, during the Asuka period. Mention of Ise Shrines saiō is also made in the Aoi, Sakaki, the saiō system ended during the turmoil of the Nanboku-chō period
10.
Mie Prefecture
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Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan, which is part of the Kansai region on the main Honshu island. The capital is the city of Tsu, until the Meiji Restoration, the area that is now Mie Prefecture was made up of Ise Province, Shima Province, Iga Province and part of Kii Province. Evidence of human habitation in Mie dates back more than 10,000 years, during the Jōmon and Yayoi periods, agricultural communities began to form along the river and coastal areas of the region. During the Edo period, the now known as Mie Prefecture consisted of several feudal domains. Transport networks, including the Tokaido and Ise Roads, were built, port towns such as Ohminato, Kuwana and Anōtsu, posting stations and castle towns flourished. Pilgrimages to Ise Shrine also became very popular, after the Meiji Restoration, the former provinces of Ise, Shima and Iga as well as a portion of eastern Kii, were organized and reorganized repeatedly. In 1871 the area from the Kiso Three Rivers in the north to present-day Tsu became Anōtsu Prefecture, in 1872, the Anōtsu prefectural seat moved from Tsu to Yokkaichi, and the prefecture itself was renamed Mie. The name Mie supposedly was taken from a comment about the region made by Yamato Takeru on his way back from conquering the eastern regions. In 1959 many lives were lost as parts of Mie were devastated by the Ise-wan Typhoon, crops were destroyed, sea walls ruined, roads and railways damaged and a substantial number of people were injured or left homeless. In May 2016, the city of Shima hosted the 42nd G7 summit, Mie Prefecture forms the eastern part of the Kii Peninsula, and borders on Aichi, Gifu, Shiga, Kyoto, Nara, and Wakayama. Traditionally, though, the Iga region of Mie is considered to have always been a part of Kansai. Mie has a coastline that stretches 1,094.9 km and, as of 2000, Mies 5,776.44 km2 landmass is 64. 8% forest,11. 5% agriculture, 6% residential area,3. 8% roads, and 3. 6% rivers. The remaining 10. 3% are not classified, the Ise Plain has a relatively moderate climate, averaging 14 to 15 degrees Celsius for the year. The Iga Basin has more daily temperature variance and averages temperatures 1 to 2 degrees cooler than the Ise Plain, southern Mie, south of the Shima Peninsula, has a warmer Pacific marine climate, with Owase Region having one of the heaviest rainfall figures for all of Japan. Traditional handicrafts such as Iga Braid, Yokkaichi Banko Pottery, Suzuka Ink, Iga Pottery, with 65% of the prefecture consisting of forests and with over 1,000 km of coastline, Mie has a long been associated with forestry and seafood industries. Mie also produces tea, beef, cultured pearls and fruit, food production companies include Azuma Foods. Northern Mie is home to a number of manufacturing industries, mainly transport machinery manufacturing, as well as this, Mie Prefecture is expanding into more advanced industries including the manufacture of semiconductors and liquid crystal displays. In Suzuka, the Honda Motor Company maintains a factory established in 1960 that built the Honda Civic as well as other vehicles, kumano Kodō - World Heritage Site
11.
Priest
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A priest or priestess, is a person authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites, in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of and their office or position is the priesthood, a term which also may apply to such persons collectively. The necessity to read sacred texts and keep temple or church records helped foster literacy in early societies. Priests exist in many religions today, such as all or some branches of Judaism, Christianity, the question of which religions have a priest depends on how the titles of leaders are used or translated into English. In some cases, leaders are more like those that other believers will often turn to for advice on spiritual matters, for example, clergy in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are priests, but in Protestant Christianity they are typically minister and pastor. The terms priest and priestess are sufficiently generic that they may be used in a sense to describe the religious mediators of an unknown or otherwise unspecified religion. In many religions, being a priest or priestess is a full-time position, many Christian priests and pastors choose or are mandated to dedicate themselves to their churches and receive their living directly from their churches. In other cases it is a part-time role, for example, in the early history of Iceland the chieftains were titled goði, a word meaning priest. In some religions, being a priest or priestess is by election or human choice. In Judaism the priesthood is inherited in familial lines, in a theocracy, a society is governed by its priesthood. The word priest, is derived from Greek, via Latin presbyter. Old High German also has the disyllabic priester, priestar, apparently derived from Latin independently via Old French presbtre, the Latin presbyter ultimately represents Greek presbyteros, the regular Latin word for priest being sacerdos, corresponding to Greek hiereus. That English should have only the term priest to translate presbyter. The feminine English noun, priestess, was coined in the 17th century, in the 20th century, the word was used in controversies surrounding the ordination of women. In the case of the ordination of women in the Anglican communion, it is common to speak of priests. In historical polytheism, a priest administers the sacrifice to a deity, in the Ancient Near East, the priesthood also acted on behalf of the deities in managing their property. Priestesses in antiquity often performed sacred prostitution, and in Ancient Greece, some such as Pythia, priestess at Delphi. Sumerian and Akkadian Entu or EN were top-ranking priestesses who were distinguished with special ceremonial attire and they owned property, transacted business, and initiated the hieros gamos ceremony with priests and kings
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Enthronement of the Japanese Emperor
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The Enthronement of the Emperor of Japan is an ancient ceremony which marks the accession of a new ruler to the Chrysanthemum Throne, in the worlds oldest continuous hereditary monarchy. Various ancient imperial regalia are given to the new sovereign during the course of the rite, the Japanese enthronement ceremony consists of three main parts. The first is the simplest, and takes place immediately after the death of the preceding sovereign, unlike other monarchies, Japan has no crown in its regalia. These three objects were originally said to have given by the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu-ōmikami, to her grandson when he first descended to earth. The most important of these three treasures is the mirror Yata no Kagami, which is enshrined in the Ise Shrine as the go-shintai and it is permanently housed in the shrine, and is not presented to the Emperor for the enthronement ceremony. Imperial messengers and priests are sent to this shrine, as well as to the tomb-shrines of the four Emperors whose reigns immediately preceded his, to inform them of the new Emperors accession. The second part of the ceremony, called the Sokui-Rei, is the enthronement ritual itself and this ancient rite was traditionally held in Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, but in 1990, Emperor Akihito was enthroned in Tokyo. The 1990 enthronement was the first to be covered on television and it was done indoors, with the elevated stand placed inside the Imperial Palace complex. Only part of the ritual is public, and the regalia itself is seen only by the Emperor. This was followed by the enthronement itself, which place in an enclosure called the Takamikura. This was surrounded by a pavilion with curtains, surmounted by a great golden Phoenix. At the same time, the Empress of Japan, in full dress regalia, traditional drums were, at this point of the ceremony, beaten to start the proceddings. The new Emperor proceeded to the chair, where after being seated, a simple wooden sceptre was presented to the Emperor, who faced his Prime Minister standing in an adjacent courtyard, representing the Japanese people. The Emperor offered an address announcing his accession to the throne and his Prime Minister replied with an address promising fidelity and devotion, followed by a three cheers of Banzai from all of those present. The timing of this last event was synchronized, so that Japanese around the world could join in the Banzai shout at precisely the moment that it was being offered in Kyoto or in Tokyo. This moment of the ends with the firing of a 21-gun salute by the Japan Self-Defense Force. First, two special rice paddies are chosen and purified by elaborate Shinto purification rites, the families of the farmers who are to cultivate the rice in these paddies must be in perfect health. Once the rice is grown and harvested, it is stored in a special Shinto shrine as its goshintai, each kernel must be whole and unbroken, and is individually polished before it is boiled
